7 Activities to Unwind Before Your Best Night’s Sleep

7 Activities to Unwind Before Your Best Night’s Sleep

With all the amazing benefits of getting a good night’s sleep, it should be an essential part of everyone’s life. However, going to bed at a reasonable time isn’t easy for everyone, and the reasons why are vast and sometimes complicated. Doing the wrong activities right before going to sleep is likely to keep you awake for hours. That’s because some activities can actually make it harder to fall asleep, particularly ones that include a lot of blue light or are physically stimulating. Replacing them with some relaxing, less stressful activities can make a noticeable difference in how easy it is to fall asleep and stay asleep. Here are 7 ways you can unwind before bed to prepare for a good night’s sleep:

Read a Book.

If you’re got an active imagination, reading a book is a quieter way to consume content at night than watching TV or YouTube videos. Plus, reading a book instead of watching a screen helps avoid the intake of blue light. Pick books that don’t require too much brainpower to understand and don’t contain chilling or overly thought-provoking stories. Reading a calming book before bed can be a great way to relax your body and mind so you can sleep peacefully.

Meditate.

Meditation is a popular activity for relaxation and destressing. That’s because it has plenty of boosts for mental health, such as lowering anxiety and enhancing self-awareness. If you’ve had a particularly stressful day and worries are still shooting back and forth in your head, meditating might be able to alleviate the noise. If you’re not sure where to start with meditation, follow a video guide or download a meditation app.

Put on Some Calming Music.

Whatever you’re doing, some slow, relaxing music in the background will help set the mood for unwinding. If you’re dancing to thumping hip-hop beats or rocking out to heavy metal, move that up for earlier hours. Genres such as jazz, classical, and some soft rock are typically slow and ambient enough to ease you into sleep. Check Spotify, YouTube, or Google Music for playlists especially made for sleep. In regards to instrumental music, avoid the type of epic symphonic music you hear in action movie trailers if you’re trying to unwind.

Do Yoga.

In our previous blog post, we did mention that getting exercise is conducive to a good night’s sleep. However, this may not be the case if you’re working out right before bed. Exercise means some form of weightlifting or cardio for most people, but it doesn’t always have to be. Yoga may not have you sweating as much, but it does stretch and strengthen your muscles, giving you a good foundation for the more high-energy, sweaty stuff. Yoga also calms down your mind and provides mental clarity as it stretches your body. This is an activity you should consider if you want to get your body moving and are looking to stretch your muscles before turning in for the night.

Organize Tomorrow.

One major reason why a lot of us have trouble falling asleep is the worries of tomorrow. You may not be able to predict the future, but you can help organize it. Before getting into your comfortable bed, writedown a to-do list of all the little steps you’ll need to take to conquer the next day so you can productively accomplish your tasks. Write down tips on how to approach these steps without flaring up a wave of stress. This exercise can make tomorrow look less daunting, and prevent your mind from racing while you’re trying to catch some Zzz’s. If this doesn’t work and further escalates your nerves, put the pen down and try out the other activities in this post.

Check What You’re Eating and Drinking.

If you feel like eating or drinking before bed, go for some more relaxing foods. Some foods, such as bananas and honey, contain chemicals that calm you down. You may have experienced an easier time falling asleep after some alcohol, but alcohol doesn’t promote high quality sleep. Drink chamomile tea or milk instead.

Put Down or Turn Off the Screens.

Here’s another reason to not watch paranormal flicks or heart-pounding fantasy epics at night: the light from the screens can interrupt your circadian rhythm and make it harder to sleep. This means no phones, laptops, tablets, or TVs for two hours before bedtime. Being online means you’re also more susceptible to come across anxiety-inducing content that’ll keep you up. Switch out the screens for a book, yoga session, or a soothing bath. Even if you don’t have time for the above, avoiding screens will make a difference on its own. --- Adopting a new nightly routine could take a while, but it’ll be worth it when you experience the daily effects of better sleep. A small change could turn into a consistent habit that leads to improved focus, athletic performance, socializing, and other wonderful benefits of catching more Zzzs. Of course, having the perfect mattress awaiting you after these yoga or reading sessions will also make it much easier to fall asleep. For a limited time, check out Lull’s Self-Improvement Special: Get $150 off your new favorite mattress to get even more out of your positive lifestyle changes. Need to try before you commit? Enjoy a 100 night risk-free trial to see what benefits a better mattress and better sleep can bring to you! Take a look at what over 35,000 customers have to say about their Lull Mattress and see that it’s a fantastic upgrade to make! With these 7 activities and the perfect mattress, you can stop tossing and turning and start sleeping.
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